Rise of The Doctor
by Elkcubra
Summary: Book 1 of a new Doctor Who Saga taking place after the fall of Capaldi's 12th regeneration of the Time Lord. As new threats loom upon the fate of the universe's very existence, the Doctor must fight through an amnesia riddled brain to save those he cares about most from imminent destruction.


**Chapter 1**

Lasers flew through the starlit sky, piercing the darkness as a barrage of radiant, electromagnetic arrows as the battle raged through the night. Screams filled the night, some of rage, some of terror, and still others of gut-wrenching pain and despair. Through the fog, a girl ran, ran faster than she knew she could, her brunette hair flowing behind her in the breeze as she sprinted toward her best friend and companion across the field.

Clara felt a beam sear past her sleeve, but paid little heed to it, caring only for the elderly man crouching on the ground a good fifty yards away, gasping for breath as he clutched his side in pain. Tears flowed from his eyes, the first tears she had ever seen him shed since his fateful regeneration all those years ago, and his voice was clearly ragged and pain-filled. Upon reaching him, she gently hoisted him up and supported him as they staggered towards his police box, where she hoped he would be safe to recover in peace.

"Clara, you have to go. The planet… it isn't safe yet. We have work to do," he rasped, emitting a long series of coughs immediately after.

"The planet will have to save itself Doctor," she responded, grunting as she held him upright. "You are in no shape to be helping anyone right now except yourself."

The TARDIS was close now, only a few yards away, and she was forced to drag him for the final stretch as his muscles gave out to exhaustion. She snapped her fingers, and the door opened as she practically threw him through the doors and then stepped in herself, shutting it tightly behind her before any threat could invade the haven. Breathing heavily, she hoisted him up and gently leaned him against the railing as she knelt next to him. She remained silent, watching him as his ragged breaths filled the air, each one tense and filled with more pain than anyone could possibly understand. Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed into the face she had come to know so well, and she tried to think of some way to tell him it was all going to be okay without sounding unconvinced herself.

"Relax," she advised, her breaths shallow as the floodgates of her eyes threatened to give way to the salty sea of tears she knew threatened to burst through at any moment. "Everything is going to be fine… you'll see." Her voice even sounded weak and unsure to her own ears. The old man slowly looked up, gasping in pain as he did, and stared her dead in the eyes.

"Clara, I'm not going to make it. That blast was too extreme. I have only minutes left, and you feel it too. I can see it in your eyes."

Despair filled her entire being, as she bit her quivering lip to hold back a whimper. "Just hang on Doctor, the regeneration is coming," she told him, remembering the orange supernova that had erupted from his entire being the first time she had experienced this. "You're going to be fine." But the doctor only shook his head as he struggled to keep his eyelids open, his voice weakening with each gulp of air into his failing lungs.

"Even Time Lords have a limit Clara. Only twelve regenerations are allotted to each of us. This is the last life I shall live, whether I like it or not." His pupils dilated suddenly as a wave of pain rushed through his body, and for the first time she saw the vast extent of pain evident in his very soul, and the sorrow that had overtaken his very being over his some 1300 very long years. Unable to hold it in any longer, she felt a small teardrop trickle down her cheek as she fought to maintain her composure.

"Are you telling me that you're not coming back? Is this… forever?" she whimpered, uncontrollable sobs threatening to escape her at any moment. Slowly, very slowly, he nodded, and closed his eyes as he leaned back.

"Clara… whatever happens, you should know… that you gave this old man the best adventure of his life…" he rasped. Tears flowed down her face as a torrent of rain flows over a mountaintop, and it took all of her strength just to speak with any form of composure in her tone.

"And the same to you Chin Boy," she lamented, a sob reverberating through her chest. She gazed down at him once more, as his breathing slowed, growing fainter and fainter. His face softened, and his lips very clearly formed two distinct words as he passed on.

"Allons-y," he whispered, before his muscles relaxed and his breathing halted altogether.

Her whole body shaking with despair, lip quivering and sobs evident in every sound she formed, she gently straightened his tie one last time. Pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, she gazed at it long and hard before clasping it tightly to her chest in remembrance of her closest companion. She then placed it into his right hand, closing his fist around it one last time as all sound fled the room, and with it the soul of her madman with a box.

"Geronimo," she murmured, and laid her head against his shoulder as she wept for the man who had died thirteen times so that billions might live in his stead, and mourned the loss of her closest friend as he departed from the world he had come to care for so greatly as silence fell upon the room one final time.


End file.
